A Little Strength Left
by Kellifer
Summary: Chapter 10 and 11 now posted! STORY COMPLETE! Failing to dial Earth while away, Sam and Daniel are stranded off world. Three years later they are able to make it home to a devastated world. Are they able to find the rest of SG1 and is the Stargate the ke
1. Default Chapter

Title: A Little Strength Left

Author: Kellifer

Email: (same for MSN addy)

Category: Action / Angst / Team dynamic

Rating: Chapter 1 - G (Later chapters to be advised)

Summary: Failing to dial Earth while away, Sam and Daniel are stranded off world. Three years later they are able to make it home to a devastated world. Is the Stargate the key to preventing a catastrophe from ever happening?

Disclaimer: DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters and places are the property of MGM, World Gekko Corp and Double Secret Productions. This piece of fan fiction was created or entertainment No monetary purposes and no infringement on copyrights or trademarks was intended. Previously unrecognized characters and places, and this story, are copyrighted to the author. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

She had been walking through a field, her hand trailing along the hip-high wheat stalks. It would have been a lovely place if not for the coppery tang of blood in the air. The wheat hid most of the bodies which was a small mercy, but every now and again she would have to step over someone be it enemy or friend.

They hadn't won. They'd retreated.

Now they were back to retrieve those they'd had to leave behind.

She looked to her right and saw someone barrelling through the field, their passage marked by the soft whisper of bending stalks. The young woman was in fatigues with a P90 clasped to her chest, yet her tears took years from her face. Sam wondered why she couldn't hear the wailing of the woman and realized it was because the blood was just too loud.

It roared in her ears, blocking everything else out.

She felt callused fingers entwine with her own and a familiar smell that finally snapped everything back into focus. Marlboros and gun oil. He'd told her he'd quit smoking. She was glad he hadn't, just for that day.

"Who is that?" She asked, inclining her face towards the wailing girl.

"Sergeant Aimes. She's the only survivor of SG17." Jack replied.

"Huh." Sam knew the noncommittal sound would appear callous, but she didn't have any emotion left. She wondered if she'd used it all up for good. Watching good men and women be shot in the back as they fled had managed to leave her with a smoking crater where her soul should have been.

"Daniel?" He'd been a limp body in Teal'c's arms as they had ploughed through the Stargate but she hadn't gotten up the nerve to ask after him since he'd been whisked away to the infirmary. Sam felt the hand in her own tighten and realized she hadn't even looked Jack's way yet. Lifting her head to meet the brown eyes trained on her seemed too hard right at that moment.

"He's a tough kid. He's survived worse." The voice was tight and Sam knew it meant that Jack didn't one hundred percent believe what he was saying. She appreciated the sentiment but hated being protected. "I asked because I want to know, not because I want to be comforted." Her voice was harder than she'd intended. She couldn't seem to look away from Aimes, who now stood a few feet away from them, her head thrown back, keening to the sky. No one tried to stop her. No one had the heart to.

"Sam?" His voice was hollow and sounded far away.

XxxxxxxxX

Sam awoke with a start, adrenaline dumping through her body. Reaching out blindly for her bedside table with one hand, she managed to smack something soft and yielding instead.

"Ow!" She heard a voice protest in the darkness. Her senses were dulled in sleep and it took her a moment to recognize the voice. "Daniel?" The wheat field had been six months ago but forever existed in her nightmares. She automatically reached out to her other side, searching for the comforting bulk of Jack, only to remember when her hand fell on bare ground that both he and Teal'c were back on Earth and she was on P4S-987 with Daniel and SG13. They were sleeping outside because it was a mild night and it almost felt unnatural not to be sandwiched between both Daniel and Jack. She got cold most nights despite the sleeping bag and the two men gave off an inexplicable amount of heat when they slept.

There was the rustle of a sleeping bag and then Sam saw the outline of Daniel rising onto one arm to regard her. "I know I'm hard to wake up sometimes, but I don't like this new 'smacking me in the face' idea." Daniel sounded more surprised than hurt but Sam grimaced.

"Sorry, I was reaching for my light."

"You missed." Daniel yawned mightily and rolled over so she could only see his back. "I can feel you looking at me." He grumbled after a few minutes, rolling back toward her again.

"Sorry." Sam tried closing her eyes but something was nagging at her. Cracking open one eye, she could see Daniel had sat up, still cocooned in his sleeping bag.

The temperature had dropped sharply during the night and it looked like Daniel had zipped himself into his sleeping bag up to the neck. "Something's bothering you right? Neither of us are getting any sleep until you tell me." He poked one hand out, hooked the zipper and freed himself. He then reached toward the end of his bedroll and there was the clinking of two metal cups. Sam smiled in the moonlight. It seemed to not matter what time Daniel woke up, his first thought was always the pursuit of coffee.

Sam looked sideways and could see the vague shape of a man in the tree line. It was too dark to make out which member of SG13 it was, but it was definitely not Dixon. It was one of the two slighter men. It didn't matter however, she'd asked for SG13 because they were a good group and although Colonel Dixon's humour was sometimes a little hard to take, he was probably the only man whose military instincts she trusted as much as Jack's.

Daniel uncurled his lanky frame until he was standing, having liberated his stash of coffee from his pack. He headed towards the fire and coaxed it back from the brink of mere embers to provide boiling water. A few minutes later Sam was sitting cross-legged, facing Daniel and with a steaming cup clasped in both hands.

"This is going to sound insane." Sam sighed. Her absolute certainty that something was amiss was fading now that she was fully awake. It was possible the residue of her nightmare was affecting her waking thoughts. Daniel watched her patiently, urging her to continue with his silence.

"I'm a scientist. I don't trust gut instinct."

"And yet..."

"And yet, I think I'm going to move our 12 hour check in up a few hours."

Daniel snapped open the leather band that hid his watch face and squinted at it in the firelight. "It's about two in the afternoon there. I don't remember anyone being due back. I'd say it's pretty safe to do."

Sam felt a wash of affection flow through her at his words, watching as he swallowed his coffee like it was a cold drink and he'd been in the desert for months. He hadn't bothered asking her why she wanted to dial home. He simply trusted she had reason and that was enough. Sam stepped out of her sleeping bag and rubbed her hand through Daniel's hair.

Ten minutes later, having dialled Earth three times without being able to get a lock, the uneasiness she'd been trying to rationalize away had well and truly returned. Colonel Dixon was standing beside her, both hands resting on top of his P90, which was clipped to his vest. "Busy signal?" he asked, his voice low. He didn't sound worried, but then Sam imagined that Dixon would have the same easy tone talking over a coffee with a friend or through a firefight.

Daniel was punching in the coordinates on the DHD again, his brow furrowed. "I'm trying the Alpha site." The Stargate's inner circle spun but failed to issue the reassuring ker-chunck of the seventh chevron locking into place. Daniel looked back at Sam, concern plain on his features even in the half-light of dawn. "Beta?" Sam nodded and Daniel started dialling again.

Again, nothing.

"I've had this nightmare." Dixon grumbled.

Sam didn't have to ask him to explain. Every person who stepped through the Stargate had the same kind of fears. Being stranded offworld was one of the biggies.

There didn't seem to be anything wrong with the Stargate which made the situation infinitely worse. Daniel increased the worry for their homeworld by managing to get a lock on a gate address he could remember to an unoccupied world.

Daniel walked back to where Sam and Colonel Dixon were standing, hands in his pockets. "We can try again in a few hours." He said.

Sam had heard somewhere that the definition of insanity was trying the same action over and over again, expecting a different result. Sam looked at the men gathered, the same expression on each face.

" Of course we will." Sam agreed.


	2. Chapter Two

Title: A Little Strength Left

Chapter Two-

Author: Kellifer

Email: (same for MSN addy)

Category: Action / Angst / Team dynamic

Rating: Chapter 1 - G (Later chapters to be advised)

Summary: Failing to dial Earth while away, Sam and Daniel are stranded off world. Three years later they are able to make it home to a devastated world. Is the Stargate the key to preventing a catastrophe from

ever happening?

Disclaimer: DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters and places are the property of MGM, World Gekko Corp and Double Secret Productions. This piece of fan fiction was created or entertainment No monetary purposes and no infringement on copyrights or trademarks was intended. Previously unrecognized characters and places, and this story, are copyrighted to the author. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

3 years later-

Her arms reached out automatically and hands found warm skin, slicked with sweat. There was a horrible keening sound that pulled her roughly into the waking world. Sam blinked open her eyes just in time to dodge Daniel's elbow, thrown out in his sleep as he battled the demons that clawed and snarled inside his mind.

They shared a bed, but there was nothing romantic in the arrangement. If anything, it was sad and painful for both of them, but far worse not to. They both suffered most at night when they could not escape their inability to save themselves or those they cared for. Their fears would sometimes seem almost overwhelming but being close together seemed to temporarily keep them at bay. Keeping one another within arm's reach was the only relief they'd found.

It never lasted long.

Sam sat up, her hands walking over Daniel's chest in the dark, pressing lightly. "Daniel." She said his name softly but with a hint of authority and his thrashing slowed and finally ceased altogether. She saw his head turn towards her and the gleam of open eyes catching the moonlight. "I'm sorry, did I wake you?" Always the same question and she gave the stock standard answer.

"No, I was awake already." She heard him chuckle but there was no humour in it. It was a hollow sound that chilled her. She wondered when Daniel's easy laugh had turned. She couldn't remember exactly. Sam scrubbed her hands through her hair and let a mighty yawn almost swallow her entire face. "What was it this time?"

Daniel shuddered. There were a few sounds that stayed with him. Most of them were pleasant, like Share's laughter and oddly, the sound of Jack cleaning and loading his gun. Daniel had heard that sound so often that he linked it to safety and security. There was one noise that permeated his most vicious nightmares. It was a high-pitched squeak; he likened it to stepping on the tail of a puppy.

It was the sound Janet had made when...

Daniel felt a hand on his arm and realised he'd been shaking. "I think its time to move again." Daniel said, hugging his arms to his chest.

xxxxx

Neither Daniel nor Sam were surprised to find the other members of their small rag-tag group already packed and waiting for them by the Stargate. Colonel Dixon was a hollow shell of the man he used to be. He'd lost weight, gained lines and there were dark shadows under his eyes. He seemed to be affected worse than any of them by the nightly terrors. Sam wondered if the grief felt for his children sharpened his suffering like a blade.

Wells, Bosworth and Balinsky didn't look much better.

Nentus, currently elected leader of the People of the Light, rushed from his house when he noticed them gathering at the Stargate. "You're leaving?" He panted. Sam started guiltily. It did look as if they had been slinking away without a word, but after having to move time and again, it had seemed the easiest and most painless option. They had all grown weary of trying to explain their need to move on from people who sheltered them with no questions asked.

How could they explain that they were experiencing worsening nightmares? How the buzzing in their minds that kept urging them to move on would inevitably start up only a few weeks after they had settled somewhere new.

None of them could understand it either.

Daniel had pulled his battered notebook from his pack already. Sam had ruled out venturing to any unexplored worlds without benefit of a MALP to herald their passage and 'test the waters'. Instead, they traveled through the worlds where they had allies.

Sometimes for a break, they would try somewhere uninhabited.

Nothing helped.

Now Daniel flipped through several pages, dismissing gate addresses they had already tried. He knew it was useless to hope that they might find somewhere to hide from the nightmares. Their physical location had nothing to do with what was happening but if they gave up all hope...

Daniel looked to Sam, having settled on a gate address that was for a lush and un-peopled world. He thought they might all need a break from civilization for a while. The People of the Light were for the most part very nice, but their over-the-top ways had become grating after awhile. "Same old, same old?" Daniel asked, knowing the answer already. Sam nodded once and Daniel approached the DHD, leaving her to deal with Nentus.

"We thank you for your hospitality but its time we were moving on." Sam said, knowing it was a lame explanation and the thanks not nearly enough, but it was all she could offer. Netu looked perplexed. "I don't understand. Has someone done something to offend you? Where could you go? I thought your homeworld was not currently reachable?"

Sam held up a hand, hoping to halt Netu's line of questioning. "Its not, but that doesn't mean we've given up on it. We're hoping to reach either the Asgard or come upon the Tok'ra. We have to keep traveling to maximize the odds of this. We need to find someway to travel back to Earth without using the 'gate. We have to believe it's still... there." Sam explained, flicking her hands in a hopeless gesture. She waited, expecting further protests, but Nentus simply nodded once.

"I wish you safe journey and luck then. My hopes go with you for all the Tau'ri to be safe." Sam was touched and she held out a hand. Nentus took it and they shook briefly.

"Thankyou." She said with more feeling than before.

There was the ker-woosh behind her of the Event Horizon flowing into existence and Sam turned. She could see Daniel was standing by the DHD, staring at the glowing pool of light. He'd dropped both his pack and his notebook on the ground. He turned slowly around, his face registering both complete shock and giddy glee. "What?" Sam prompted.

"Sam." He breathed, his voice barely above a whisper. "That's not P34-29X engaged. That's Earth."

xxxxxx

It had been the same procedure each time they had moved. First they would dial Earth. Failing to get a lock, they would dial the Alpha site. The seventh chevron would inevitably not engage and they would dial the Beta site. Again, there would be nothing. Only then would Daniel dial the next world they were to visit.

It had been that way for three long years.

Now that they were staring open mouthed at the Event Horizon that would lead them back home, all were paralyzed with indecision, fear and excitement. "Do we just-?" Dixon began, fighting the urge to just run through. He had four children and a wife and no idea whether they were alive or dead. Every day he'd spent apart from them he'd felt a tiny part of himself die. All at once, he felt alive again.

Because there was a chance...however slim.

"Iris." Balinsky said, his voice hollow.

"We have no idea if it's even engaged." Bosworth protested.

"Exactly." Sam snapped, her tone harsher than she'd intended. All eyes turned to her and she softened her expression with an effort of will. "We can't just go barrelling through. We have to try the GDO and see if we get a signal back." Sam dropped her pack to the ground and started rummaging through it, looking for the small remote transmitter she'd guarded closely all this time. She held it up but Dixon put a hand over hers. "What if all we're doing is signaling an enemy that we're coming through?"

Sam opened her mouth, and then closed it again. She wasn't exactly sure what to say. They'd all been waiting so long for the chance to go home. An icy tendril of fear curled up her spine at the time they were wasting leaving the 'gate open.

What if they could never get a lock again?

"I'll radio if it's safe." Daniel said.

Sam blinked. "Daniel, what-?" Sam watched in horror as Daniel spun in place and sprinted for the 'gate. Wells, the only one closer to the 'gate than Daniel had been, made a grab for him, but Daniel was no longer the geeky, awkward archeologist he'd once been. Instead, he dodged neatly and plowed through the Event Horizon. The wormhole broke off as soon as he was through.

"No!" Sam breathed.


	3. Chapter Three

Title: A Little Strength Left

Author: Kellifer

Email: (same for MSN addy)

Category: Action / Angst / Team dynamic

Summary: Failing to dial Earth while away, Sam and Daniel are stranded off world. Three years later they are able to make it home to a devastated world. Is the Stargate the key to preventing a catastrophe from

ever happening?

Disclaimer: DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters and places are the property of MGM, World Gekko Corp and Double Secret Productions. This piece of fan fiction was created or entertainment No monetary purposes and no infringement on copyrights or trademarks was intended. Previously unrecognized characters and places, and this story, are copyrighted to the author. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Chapter Three-

Daniel expected nothing short of oblivion when he ploughed through the Stargate, so actually materializing on the other side was a pleasant surprise.

The not so pleasant part was losing his footing as soon as he had come through and landing unceremoniously on his ass.

"Dignified as always." He grumbled, getting up to brush dirt from his pants legs.

So distracted, Daniel didn't have time to react to the man coming at him at a dead run.

xxxxxx

Colonel Jack O'Neill was usually the type to shoot first and ask questions later. His finger automatically bore down on the trigger of his P90 when a man barreled through the active event horizon of the newly unearthed Stargate. Jack was a hair away from the pressure needed to end the man's life when his target slid on the loose shale just below the 'gate and went down with a cry.

Jack recognised the fall before he recognised the man.

Instinct took control and he was up and over the jutting of rock that had been his cover. His mind screamed at him that this could be a trap but his pure need to make sure what he was seeing was real and not some daylight hallucination drove out any rational thought. He had covered the space between himself and the visitor in seconds and had tackled him to the ground. The newcomer struggled mightily until Jack had him firmly pinned. "Say Uncle, Danny boy!"

The writhing body beneath him stilled. "Jack?" A small, disbelieving and muffled voice issued from beneath him.

Jack sat up, releasing his chokehold and letting Daniel confirm with his eyes what he'd heard. Daniel slowly sat up, blinking myopically. Jack leaned forward to push Daniel's glasses back up his nose with two fingers. That simple action seemed to break Daniel's paralysis. "Jack!" Daniel exclaimed, allowing Jack to pull him to his feet. Once standing, Jack reached forward and ran a hand through Daniel's mussed hair, as if physical contact would make Daniel more...there.

"How...what...how?" Daniel breathed, a million questions pushing their way to the forefront, shutting down his ability to articulate a single one. Jack chuckled. Any fears that the man standing before him was anyone other than Doctor Daniel Jackson had been allayed by his clumsy entrance back to Earth, but Jack was reassured that all the same old 'Jacksonisms' were present and accounted for as well. Daniel huffed and then something seemed to occur to him. "Sam!" He exclaimed, pointing behind himself.

One word uttered had never stilled a man so completely. Jack quirked an eyebrow, took a few deep breaths and when his hammering heart had finally calmed he canted his head to the side and said "What?"

"Sam, she's... and Colonel Dixon is... I have to let them...this is unbelievable!" Jack placed hands on both of Daniel's shoulders and shook him firmly. The trail of incomprehensible thought stuttered out and Daniel finally seemed to focus. "Sorry!" He exclaimed. "We were moving to another world - "

"Where's Sam?" Jack asked slowly, cutting through the Daniel-ramble.

"Back with The People of the Light. I just have to radio. She and SG13 are waiting."

For three years the only hope that kept Jack going was that Daniel and Sam were offworld, together and above all else, safe. To have those hopes realised left him lightheaded. Sam so far away still, was painful. Rational-Jack took over once more and a brain prone to bursts of brilliance kicked into overdrive. "Don't get me wrong, I'm unbelievably happy to see you..." Jack said. Daniel's brow creased.

"But?" He prompted.

"I kinda wish you'd sent Sam through first."

"What? Why?" Daniel's tone was both hurt and curious.

Jack sighed. "Earth, remember? No DHD." Jack gestured at the surrounding area. There was a lot of rubble and wreckage, the Stargate, but nothing else.

The colour drained from Daniel's face.

"Oh."


	4. A Little Strength Left Chapter Four

Title: A Little Strength Left

Author: Kellifer

Email: (same for MSN addy)

Category: Action / Angst / Team dynamic

Summary: Failing to dial Earth while away, Sam and Daniel are stranded off world. Three years later they are able to make it home to a devastated world. Is the Stargate the key to preventing a catastrophe from

ever happening?

Disclaimer: DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters and places are the property of MGM, World Gekko Corp and Double Secret Productions. This piece of fan fiction was created or entertainment No monetary purposes and no infringement on copyrights or trademarks was intended. Previously unrecognized characters and places, and this story, are copyrighted to the author. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Chapter Four-

Daniel and Jack sat side by side cross-legged, facing the Stargate. Jack had his head in his hands and was rubbing his temples and Daniel was gazing at the Stargate as if he could make an event horizon form with his thoughts.

So far, it wasn't working.

"You ran through even though you didn't know the Iris was open?" Jack repeated slowly, his voice muffled by his hands. His and Daniel's knees were touching and although Jack wasn't usually the touchy-feely type, he needed the contact to convince himself that he wasn't currently hallucinating. He was waiting patiently for a young man named Lieutenant Fielders to come and relieve him of his watch so that he had someone else to confirm Daniel's actual presence.

"Yep." Daniel's tone was careful.

"Do you have a death wish or something?" Jack demanded, finally raising his head. Daniel merely quirked an eyebrow at him and Jack groaned. "Can we limit your deaths to maybe once every five years or so please? I don't think my old heart can take more than that." Jack grumbled.

"Sam's going to remember there's no DHD and dial us eventually...right?" Daniel changed the subject neatly.

"Of course she is." Jack agreed, nodding gamely. Daniel turned to regard Jack, before returning his gaze to the Stargate.

"Of course she is." He repeated. The single, vertical line had appeared between his brows that seemed to surface when Daniel had gone beyond worried. Jack understood how he felt.

"Of course she will." Jack confirmed again.

xxxxxx

Thousands of light years away, Samantha Carter was unconsciously mimicking her two friend's positions. She picked at her bootlace with a fraying nail, pulling a thread free and twisting it around one finger. She heard footsteps from behind and looked around, raising one hand to shield her eyes from the sun's glare.

Dixon had appeared with a look on his face that was familiar to her. It was the exact same look Jack wore when he wanted to say something, but was worried he was going to sound dumb. People often mistook Jack's generalisations and simplifications as an indication the he was a little… dense. Jack made simple connections and saw straight lines where Sam saw mazes and convoluted pathways.

Sometimes Jack's worldview was better. Sam had learned over the last three years that Colonel Dixon had been cut from the same cloth as Jack.

"Spill it." Sam demanded.

"I'm sure you've-" He began; probably trying to discount what he was thinking before he even broached the subject. Classic Jack again. She knew Dixon and Jack had a grudging respect for each other, but had never truly gotten along. Sam had always wondered about it but now it was clear that it was caused more by their similarities than their differences.

"I said spill it." Sam unfurled her long legs and stood, brushing dust from her behind. Dixon's eyes ticked away and then back to her face.

"Well..." Dixon was stalling and it was setting Sam's teeth on edge.

She made a 'hurry-up' gesture with her hand and Dixon's brow furrowed. Sam would get Dixon to talk even if she had to annoy him into doing it. "I was just thinking, and I'm sure you've already thought of this mind, but anyway, I was just thinking that if the Earth had been hit and someone had only managed to dig the Stargate out recently, it don't necessarily mean they can dial out, does it?"

A simple statement and all Sam's synapses fired like they should have two hours earlier. Sam slapped herself in the forehead. "No DHD." She groaned. Dixon nodded, looking tense. "You're a genius!" She sighed and came up on her toes so she could kiss Dixon firmly on the cheek. He chuckled gruffly, clearly pleased. It had been hard to watch Dixon grieving for his wife and children and it was probably the first genuine smile she had seen on his face the entire time they had been stranded.

Sam jogged over to the DHD and started dialling Earth. As the inner ring spun, there was a bad moment when she thought that the seventh chevron wouldn't lock, but it lighted and slammed into place with a satisfying ker-chunk. The event horizon burst into existence with the usual wave of liquid light and Sam's hand fluttered to her breast pocket, clicking her radio to life.

"Daniel?"

For a few seconds there was only static and Sam felt her heart plummet into her shoes. Then the radio clicked into life and she was terrified to hear the sounds of a struggle. There was grunting and swearing and then Sam's brow furrowed when she heard gruff laughter.

Laughter she hadn't heard for a very long time.

"Well, it's about time Major!" Jack's voice was distorted through a radio that had seen to many knocks, and thousands of light years, but it sounded wonderful all the same.


	5. Chapter Five

Title: A Little Strength Left

Author: Kellifer

Email: (same for MSN addy)

Category: Action / Angst / Team dynamic

Summary: Failing to dial Earth while away, Sam and Daniel are stranded off world. Three years later they are able to make it home to a devastated world. Is the Stargate the key to preventing a catastrophe from ever happening?

Disclaimer: DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters and places are the property of MGM, World Gekko Corp and Double Secret Productions. This piece of fan fiction was created or entertainment No monetary purposes and no infringement on copyrights or trademarks was intended. Previously unrecognized characters and places, and this story, are copyrighted to the author. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Chapter Five-

There'd been the urge to run into his arms and hug Jack out of sheer relief and happiness as soon as Sam stepped through the Stargate.

She'd resisted and simply snapped a salute at him. The grin he gave her when he returned the gesture was enough to break any resolve and Sam stumbled down the ramp, enveloped in waiting arms. Jack smelled bad and he was skinnier but those things didn't matter.

Not right at that moment.

xxxxxx

A jagged, blackened chasm lay before them and Sam's breath hitched to see it. They hadn't come through the Stargate inside Cheyenne Mountain. The Stargate now rested outside the perimeter. She looked up and saw a crane arcing over her head. There was another on the other side of the chasm and a third where the Stargate now stood.

Jack was standing beside her, a solid presence in a hellish nightmare. Sam opened her mouth and then closed it, her train of thought derailed by the sight of the disaster before her. Jack had been explaining carefully and with no emotion what had happened in the three years she and Daniel had not been able to get home. There was something about his tale that was bothering her and she finally realized what it was.

"You said May 8th?" She asked, stopping Jack who was still speaking. He had been describing how hard it had been to dig out the Stargate and get it to level ground. He turned to regard her with confusion at the anger that was washing over Sam's face. "Two days before…" She breathed.

"Sam, what?" Jack elbowed her gently in the side, starting to worry.

Sam turned on him. "We called in and Hammond pretended everything was normal. We called in on May 7th and everything was fine and dandy. That would have been when the attack on the other sites had already happened! By then you would have known what was coming and we weren't told to come back."

"Sam-" Jack began, his tone gentle. He'd reached out to her and she slapped his hand away.

"We could've-"

"You would have been dead!" Jack snapped, losing patience. Sam wilted, her anger vanishing as quickly as it had appeared. Jack knew she was suffering from shock but he felt the urge to shake her just the same. "You would have been in this Mountain just like the rest of them and you would have died. Daniel too." Jack was shaking. He was building up to a pretty good rant and he knew Sam would forgive him later. There had been no one to rail against, no one he could fight and he was sick of feeling impotent.

"We've lost everyone, the world's a mess and we're just trying to survive. I lived with the fear that maybe, just maybe, you and Daniel had come back early for some reason and you were in that damn Mountain when it happened anyway."

It was Sam's turn to reach out and Jack let her rest a hand on his bicep. He was thin and there was a hard-worn grubbiness to him. He'd had a harder time of it than she had. She thought guiltily of the comfy bed she'd spent only the previous night in. Jack leaned down and snagged a small rock from the ground, pitching it into the canyon that was once a Mountain. There was a hollow klock noise when it hit the bottom.

On the other side of the canyon, in the shade of the largest of the three cranes, Daniel stood next to the slight figure of Major Pevitt, a woman who was the sole survivor of her team, SG-16. Daniel was standing with his arms wrapped around himself, probably hearing the same tale Jack had been telling Sam before her outburst.

"How is he doing?" Jack asked. Daniel had been quiet since Sam and the rest of SG-13 had made it through the 'gate but Jack figured that wasn't so much to do with their arrival as finally recovering from his initial exuberance at finding Jack alive.

"His nightmares are bad, but we've all been suffering from them in one form or another since this happened. How about you?"

"Nightmares? Sure, but nothing above average." Jack admitted with a dismissive wave of the hand.

Sam was nodding. "Its weird. I've been thinking about it and they got worse whenever we were in one place too long. We didn't get settled anywhere because eventually we all felt the need to move on."

Jack had been stooping to get another rock but stopped, looking over his shoulder. "You have that look." He observed.

"What look?"

"The I-have-a-theory look." Jack clarified.

"It's a work in progress." Sam sighed, scrubbing her hands over her face. "But there's something just not right about all of this."

Jack surveyed the ruined landscape before them.

"Ya think?" He asked dryly.

Sam sighed. "The frequency and severity of the nightmares, not being able to stay in one place and finding you. It's all linked somehow."

"Happy coincidence… except for the nightmare part."

Sam sighed, finally joining in Jack's game of punting rocks into the deep pit that had once been home.

xxxxx

The staff blast had come out of nowhere and had hit Daniel in the shoulder, spinning him in a circle like a rag doll. Later Sam had realized that she had caught the movement of the Jaffa in the undergrowth out of the corner of her eye but hadn't been quick enough to sound out the warning.

This time instead of being hit in the shoulder, Daniel had been hit in the chest, having turned slightly just before the blast. Huh? Is the staff blast from the previous paragraph a nightmare too? Her mind screamed in protest that it was not the way it had happened. Daniel hadn't crumpled down to the ground, his chest a smoking crater, but she could smell the blood and burning flesh in the air, Jack's ragged cry as he had run forward and Teal'c raising his staff weapon in return.

Sam jolted awake, blindly searching for Daniel's warmth. A tendril of panic chased through her when her groping hands failed to find his comforting bulk. Finally, her sleep-addled mind reminded her that she was on Earth now, sleeping under the stars. Jack's presence had spurred her to make her bed away from Daniel's for the first time in many months, and she missed his proximity in the aftermath of the dream.

Part of her had also been hoping that being back on Earth would bring the nightmares to an end.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked around. Daniel was crouched by her side, a tin mug in each hand. "Hey." He said softly and Sam smiled, accepting the proffered coffee gratefully. "Had a bad one too?" He asked, letting himself drop properly to the ground beside her and swearing softly when he managed to slop some of his coffee onto his hand.

"I thought-" Sam began, but then shook her head. "Never mind. Yes I did."

"You thought being here would make a difference?" Daniel guessed and Sam nodded, disappointment evident on her tired features. "The same thing occurred to me. I don't think I ever asked what yours were about." Daniel's eyebrows rose.

"I don't think I ever asked you either now that you mention it." Sam said, her tone puzzled. They had comforted each other through the night terrors but had never thought to talk about them. "Weird stuff. Mostly missions where we screwed up and people got hurt."

Daniel was looking at Sam strangely, his coffee halfway to his lips, forgotten. She leant forward and prodded him in the knee. "That's exactly what mine are about." He said slowly. "I started out with losing Sha're and it seemed to progress from there. These dreams are almost…" Daniel gestured with his coffee cup.

"Chronological?" Sam guessed, having had the same thought.

"This is all starting to have a pretty awful familiar ring to it." Daniel said, rubbing his temple.

Sam was studying her hands in the firelight, setting her coffee mug aside. Daniel watched her impassively, letting her work things out her own way. She curled her hand into a fist and looked at where her little finger made an indented 'y'. She'd had a scar running the length of the finger from slamming it in a car door when she was twelve.

The scar wasn't there.

"Lift up your shirt." Sam said. Daniel's eyebrows shot up and he started to protest but Sam merely lunged at him, pinning him neatly and raising his shirt. "Your scar is still there." She said, her tone confused. Daniel looked down at where her fingers were resting.

"Huh." He huffed.

"What?" Sam asked, sitting back onto her knees, allowing Daniel up. He still had his shirt raised and his fingers spread over the scar on his lower belly. "It's on the wrong side." Daniel said slowly, his gaze traveling from his abdomen to Sam's eyes.

"What the hell is going on?" Sam breathed.


	6. Chapter Six

Title: A Little Strength Left

Author: Kellifer

Email: (same for MSN addy)

Category: Action / Angst / Team dynamic

Summary: Failing to dial Earth while away, Sam and Daniel are stranded off world. Three years later they are able to make it home to a devastated world. Is the Stargate the key to preventing a catastrophe from ever happening?

Disclaimer: DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters and places are the property of MGM, World Gekko Corp and Double Secret Productions. This piece of fan fiction was created or entertainment No monetary purposes and no infringement on copyrights or trademarks was intended. Previously unrecognized characters and places, and this story, are copyrighted to the author. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

-Chapter Six-

"No."

"But sir-"

"I said no. I don't want to hear about it."

"But it's the only - "

"Dammit Carter!"

"Its the only explanation!"

"For chrissakes!"

Daniel listened to Jack and Sam as they argued back and forth and was strangely comforted. He lay with his head resting on Sam's knee and his eyes closed. He had been sleeping but had woken when their hushed conversation had risen in tempo and passion. He didn't want to intrude, however, so didn't give away the fact that he was awake. He felt Sam's fingers card through his hair and the gesture was impatient. He knew the impatience was directed at Jack rather than himself.

The two had abandoned any pretense of being quiet. Drowsing in the warmth of the fire and the rhythmic motion of Sam's touch, Daniel mused it was a good thing they'd moved away from the main camp. Functioning after the apocalypse was hard enough without being kept up half the night by fighting neighbors. It might just happen anyway, if Sam attempted to convince Jack the same way she had Daniel.

The social behaviorist in him wondered vaguely if it had really been a conscious decision to separate from the rest of the group and felt a momentary pang of guilt that they were isolating themselves, but he had missed the easy bond they shared and was enjoying just being with his old friends.

"If you'll just let me-"

"I'm warning you, Carter. Next word out of your mouth and I put you in a headlock." Daniel felt Carter's restless fingers still and he could imagine the look she was giving her CO. He heard Jack sigh. "It works …with Daniel," He sounded grumpy, and Daniel couldn't help his lips curving into a slight smile.

Daniel felt a feather-light touch on his boots and suspected when he tried to rise the laces would be tied together.

"So, just tell me you remember everything that happened over the last three years and I'll drop it." Sam tried being reasonable which was always a bad tack to take with Jack O'Neill. He tended to be more obstinate to compensate. "I'm an old man. I don't remember what I had for breakfast."

There was a meaty thwap sound and a cry of protest from Jack. Yep, smack in the forehead, Daniel thought.

"Alright, alright." Jack placated. There were a few moments of silence and Sam's restless fingers stilled once more in anticipation. She was waiting for pennies to drop and had to be patient. With Jack they had further to fall, and usually took a convoluted path. Finally something must have clicked because Jack groaned.

"Oh for cryin' out loud." He sighed.

xxxxxxx

Sam and Daniel had discussed her theory earlier in the day, and it had been immediately and scarily plausible to him. They knew Jack would take a little more convincing and had played a rousing game of rock- paper-scissors to decide who would break the news.

He didn't know why people always assumed he would choose rock.

Ever since the successful connection back to Earth, Sam had been suspicious. Bad luck seemed to follow SG1 around like an errant puppy, and not only getting back home but finding Jack as well had just seemed a little too miraculous. The frequency and consistency of the nightmares they all shared added to Sam's general sense of unease.

Their memories of the last three years being spotty at best, sealed the deal.

Whoever was doing this probably didn't realise that they had all been there, done that.

Time and again SG1 had had their memories toyed with, erased and overwritten to the point where Sam recognised the telltale signs for what they were. The questions what, why and how remained to be answered, but at least she knew she had them to ask.

Was anything they were experiencing even real?

The inconsistency of their scars led Sam to believe not. The world certainly 'felt' real, that was for certain. They hadn't been able to tell when they were still in the chairs back on the Gamekeeper's planet either, Sam mused. No matter how... visceral her surroundings felt, she knew she couldn't trust anything her senses were trying to tell her.

After she had talked to Daniel and just before she had broached the subject with Jack, Sam had dealt with the very real terror that she was actually alone and her teammates were part of an elaborately envisioned but false world, constructed for her. She'd experienced the same at the hands of Five. Sam made sure to pack the fear carefully away, to compartmentalize it in such a way that it didn't distract from the more immediate issue of trying to find a way out. She would work on the theory that she had to save all of them and not just herself.

Sam knew she worked better that way.

XXXXX

"You kept saying 'and then some other stuff happened'." Sam explained when Jack had gotten through his bout of swearing and had subsided into a moody silence. He blinked at her.

"What?"

"That confirmed it all for me, when you were telling me about what had happened here and you kept saying those words, over and over again. At first I thought you might just have been glossing over the boring bits." Jack grinned, knowing what Sam meant. He was great at 'glossing', especially when it came to writing reports and debriefings. Daniel usually more than made up for his tendency for the laconic.

"But it was bugging me and trying to think what had happened to me over the past three years, I found all these... holes. Sure I remembered not being able to dial earth that first time or waking up from nightmares, but everything else kinda sped by in a blur and although there was a vague feeling that I had met lots of people and done lots of stuff, I just couldn't drag up any specifics." Sam sighed. "And just what on earth are you doing?"

Jack had stood while Sam was speaking and was now hunting through pockets and the surrounding packs, a look of consternation on his face. Sam watched him moodily rummaging around for a few minutes before she prodded him again. "Well?"

"Ever since you started-" Jack looked at her quickly, obviously searching for a more polite term than what his brain had first come up with. "…in with your theorizing, I've had this feeling that I'm missing something… or lost something." Jack straightened up, once more methodically checking through his clothes.

Having exhausted all other avenues, he squatted and started turning out Daniel's pockets. "Hey!" Daniel sat up, batting Jack's hands away and returning the mess of pencils, rocks and scraps of paper that Jack had unearthed to their rightful places.

"C'mon, we're missing something." Jack snapped, frustration rising.

Daniel retrieved his glasses from his top pocket and started cleaning them on the bottom of his shirt, more out of nervous habit than any need to clean them. "Ask Teal'c." He sighed.

Daniel had still been a little sleep addled and hadn't really been thinking when he spoke. The reaction to his suggestion was electric, however. Sam and Jack's heads snapped up, both staring at each other, their faces pale and mouths open.

"Teal'c!" They exclaimed in unison.


	7. Chapter Seven

Title: A Little Strength Left

Author: Kellifer

Email: (same for MSN addy)

Category: Action / Angst / Team dynamic

Summary: Failing to dial Earth while away, Sam and Daniel are stranded off world. Three years later they are able to make it home to a devastated world. Is the Stargate the key to preventing a catastrophe from

ever happening?

Disclaimer: DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters and places are the property of MGM, World Gekko Corp and Double Secret Productions. This piece of fan fiction was created or entertainment No monetary purposes and no infringement on copyrights or trademarks was intended. Previously unrecognized characters and places, and this story, are copyrighted to the author. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Chapter Seven-

Daniel cracked open one eye.

"If you're going to watch me like that, I won't be able to do it." He complained. Jack and Sam were both standing before him, their combined gazes like a tangible weight pressing into him. Sam blinked and then looked sideways at Jack, who raised an eyebrow.

"How could you tell we were looking at you? Your eyes were closed." Jack admonished. Daniel sighed in exasperation, unfolding his long legs and making to stand. Sam put out her hands and touched them to Daniel's shoulders.

"We're sorry." She said quickly, treating Jack to a baleful glance and only taking her hands away when Daniel had lowered to the ground once more. "We'll leave you be." Sam retreated, snagging the elbow of Jack's shirt as she passed him and pulling him away with her. He glanced back at Daniel who was once more sitting cross-legged before their fire, hands resting on his knees and his eyes closed. The single crease of concentration had appeared between his eyebrows.

"Do you really think this will work?" Jack asked, retrieving his sleeve from Sam's grasp. He acknowledged the need for Daniel to be undisturbed, but he was going to keep the younger man in his line of sight just the same.

"I have no idea." Sam sighed, rubbing tired fists into her eyes. "Give me some failed piece of equipment or something I can solve with a scientific theory and I'm good. I have absolutely no idea how to get out of …this." Sam gestured about them with an arm, her voice full of a resignation Jack hadn't heard too often.

"Just because Teal'c isn't here, doesn't mean-"

"Got a better plan?" Sam snapped. Her eyes were glassy and she sat down abruptly, her feet sticking out straight before her like a tired child's. "Sorry, it's just…"

"I know. I'm sorry." Jack apologized, lowering himself next to Sam, his knees popping painfully. He knew his tendency to play devil's advocate was one of his foibles that drove Sam mad.

"We just have to hope that its Teal'c's ability to kel-no-reem that is the reason he's not here."

"Daniel can't…you know. I didn't think Teal'c could properly either after Junior was removed."

"He can't, but he still meditates. I think Daniel has a better shot than any of us though considering he's actually removed his conscious self from his physical body. Can you do that?" Jack had thought Sam was still angry with him until he caught the half-smirk she was wearing.

"You mean go all glowy? Sure, if I really wanted to. I just haven't felt the need to show off like Daniel." He said, returning her grin with his own. Sam snorted and shook her head. "So, got a theory on how we could not realise Teal'c was even missing?"

"If what we suspect is true, nothing here is real. This whole place is implanted into our mind. I would assume someone being able to introduce something this elaborate would have the means to remove information as well." Sam picked at a blade of grass near her boot, tearing it apart with her fingers.

"And we remember him now because…?"

"I would have to say that this whole thing is starting to unravel. The closer you look, the more holes you find."

"Like?"

Sam glanced at the sky and then back at Jack. In the late afternoon sun his eyes went the colour of whiskey. Sam smiled to herself, wondering if they actually did in the real world or this Jack was just some romanticized version she was envisioning. She knew his face so well that either was possible.

"Well, when the Alpha site was compromised, the first thing Hammond would do is call all the off world teams back to earth. Could you imagine him doing anything else?" Jack canted his head and then shook it slowly in the negative. "Exactly. He wouldn't be concerned about _protecting_ us. I know he cares about us a great deal, but he wouldn't ignore standard rules of engagement." Sam was looking at Jack carefully and he knew she was working up to her second point, and probably didn't quite know how to broach it.

"And you should be dead." She said softly.

"Care to explain?"

"C'mon Sir. The Alpha site gets hit and you would have been at the Mountain like a shot. You would have been there when it was turned into nothing more than a smoking crator."

"I was…" Jack knew there should be an explanation, but it slipped free of his mind when he reached for it. His brows knitted and he looked at the soldier beside him, the woman, the friend. He realized for three years, or however long it had been, she would have believed he was dead. How can I be so completely dense, Jack mused.

"Carter-" He began but she cut him off with an impatient wave of the hand.

"Plus, no Teal'c. We can't have just _misplaced_ him. He's pretty big." Jack laughed, feeling the tension that had been between them vanish.

xxxxx

For a while Daniel had been distracted by the murmured voices of Jack and Sam, not quite far enough away. He was about to open his eyes and tell them to move further away when he felt something on the very edge of his conscious mind. He tried to follow it but it was as elusive as a shadow on a wall.

Daniel concentrated, envisioning cables tying his conscious self to his body and then releasing them, one by one. It was a meditation trick Teal'c had taught him. When the final cable released and drifted from his mind he felt himself freed. With his eyes closed, he could see Jack and Sam clearly. Sam was a soft blue hue, burnished with gold. Jack was a jagged black, but there were streaks of vivid colour. He drifted further and there were other colours, other forms he could make out vaguely, but he didn't know the people well enough to recognize them by what he was seeing.

Further out now and the landscape had a jarring quality to it. It was missing the easy ebb and flow of the natural world.

The feeling that he should be returning to where he was pressed in on him and he fought it, knowing there was something in the opposite direction that he needed to see. He caught a bright flare of light out of the corner of his eye and headed towards it. It felt familiar and he pursued it more fervently, now feeling its draw.

He couldn't have turned back if he tried.

Daniel hurtled forwards, envisioning himself as an arrow strafing towards a target. When the impact came, he wasn't quite ready for it and he felt as if every nerve ending was on fire.

He would have screamed if he could've.


	8. Chapter 8

Title: A Little Strength Left

Author: Kellifer

Email: (same for MSN addy)

Category: Action / Angst / Team dynamic

Summary: Failing to dial Earth while away, Sam and Daniel are stranded off world. Three years later they are able to make it home to a devastated world. Is the Stargate the key to preventing a catastrophe from ever happening?

Disclaimer: DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters and places are the property of MGM, World Gekko Corp and Double Secret Productions. This piece of fan fiction was created or entertainment No monetary purposes and no infringement on copyrights or trademarks was intended. Previously unrecognized characters and places, and this story, are copyrighted to the author. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Chapter 8-

Thunder crashed overhead, temporarily muffling Sam's words and Jack risked a glance away from Daniel to the sky. Heavy, gray clouds had advanced as Daniel tried to drop into Kel-no-reem. If this whole world was a construct, Jack wondered if the threatening sky might be a reflection of the maker's disapproval.

Jack swung his gaze back just in time to see Daniel slither sideways, his head smacking on the ground with a hollow thump that made Jack's stomach clench. Jack could vaguely hear Sam's hurried footsteps behind him as he ran toward the now prone figure.

Jack skidded to a halt, dropping to his knees and ignoring the ugly, glassy pain that bloomed when they hit the ground. His hands went to Daniel's throat, two fingers searching vainly for a pulse that wasn't there. "Notnownotnownotnownotnow…" Jack breathed, like a mantra that he hoped would stave off whatever was happening.

The first drops of rain started to fall and Jack looked to Daniel's face, seeing fat droplets patter against his open eyes like striking glass. "Oh God, help me." Jack moaned, lacing his hands above Daniel's heart and starting compressions, trying to force the life back into the younger man's body. Sam came around the other side, meaning to assist Jack with the CPR but pulled her hands away with a cry when she'd put them to Daniel's neck.

His skin had been stone cold to the touch.

xxxxx

Daniel opened his eyes and looked around.

His body reacted to his surroundings before his mind could catch on. Raw panic caused him to convulse, rebelling against a tube in his throat and the fact that he was completely immersed in liquid.

A few minutes passed and he was able to reign in his errant body, his rational brain seizing control and enforcing calm. He closed his eyes, taking a few deep breaths and then tried again.

Eyes still shut, Daniel's hands drifted upward, exploring his face first. There was a mask covering his mouth and nose and though the device felt strange, Daniel had woken up in the infirmary enough times to recognize its purpose. Panic fluttered its leathery wings at the edge of his mind again but he shoved it sideways. His fingers continued mapping his head by feel and the mask was fixed in two places by thick straps, one under his ears and around the base of his skull, the other over his ears and then over the top of his head.

Daniel opened his eyes slowly again and tried to take stock. He was in what looked like a glass box, floating in a thick liquid. It had a blue sheen to it and was slightly resistant when he moved his limbs. Forced to move slowly, Daniel explored outwards until his fingers met the glass wall of the chamber he was inside, his arms almost straight before he met the sides. Further exploration hampered by the mask, he carefully reached above himself and felt a slick barrier above with no obvious seams. He wasn't sure how he'd been put in this box, but it was not through the top.

Daniel craned his neck as far as it would go, trying to see beneath his feet. The liquid and lack of glasses made everything fuzzy and indistinct so he couldn't tell if there was a release on the bottom of the chamber that would allow escape.

Daniel returned his attentions to his first obstacle. The mask had a black ribbed tube running from the front and curling behind him and presumably connecting to either an oxygen tank or the outside world. Daniel found he couldn't turn far enough to see which was the case. He'd been so absorbed in his investigations that a slight movement at the very edge of his vision made Daniel start.

He looked to his right and saw another tank, as large as his and within it, although not exactly clear, had to have been Sam. The movement he'd caught was one of her hands drifting slowly up to her temple. Daniel couldn't tell for sure, but Sam's legs and her other arm hung limply so he presumed she was not conscious. With a sinking feeling, Daniel looked to his left.

Another tank was set up and inside was Jack.

Decision made, Daniel reached up behind his head and slipped both straps holding his mask in place free. He took a few deep breaths and then squeezed his eyes shut, curling both hands around the tube that connected to the front.

Daniel dragged a final, mighty breath inward and pulled.

xxxxxx

Jack had taken over when Sam had halted mouth-to-mouth, alternating between compressions and trying to breath for Daniel. He knew Sam had been calling him for a few minutes now, trying to get him to stop, but he didn't think he could.

Her implored "Sirs" had turned into desperate "Jacks!".

He didn't care that Daniel had now been gone for more than twenty minutes.

He felt a solid blow to the face and sprawled sideways, dirt grazing his palms. He looked backwards and Sam was standing above him, her fists balled, breathing heavily. He realized she had just punched him.

"You have to stop it." Sam said stonily. She didn't seem to be aware that there were tears streaming down her face. "Just stop." She repeated, her voice hollow.

Jack treated her to a baleful glance, before making to crawl back to Daniel. Sam placed herself physically in the way, her hands out. "Please stop." She said, her voice small. Jack dropped back onto his haunches, everything in his posture resigned.


	9. Chapter Nine

Scrabbling hands finding no purchase, Daniel righted himself again in the tank. He pinched his nose for a few seconds, trying to concentrate and knowing full well that he was in very real danger of drowning. He checked the mask and tubing he'd ripped from his face and found both had filled with liquid, rendering them useless. Daniel switched tactics and starting thumping on the glass barrier between him and air, but the viscous fluid hindered any real power behind the blows.

A wash of gray across his vision signaled to Daniel that his time was running out. When a dark figure loomed before him, Daniel wondered if it was his oxygen-starved brain conjuring hallucinations.

To Daniel, the dark figure looked just like Teal'c.

xxxxxx

"This still might not be real." Sam's voice was barely above a whisper.

Jack was sitting by Daniel's body, holding one of the limp hands and studying the fingers. He'd always marveled that the hands were as callused as his own, even more so. A scholar was supposed to have soft hands, but Daniel had been digging in the dirt since he could walk. Jack touched the rough patch on Daniel's index finger on his right hand.

Jack had always hated the term 'trigger finger'.

"Feels goddam real."

xxxxxx

There was light, strong arms and air, blessed air.

Daniel tried dragging a lungful inward but his body didn't cooperate. He was lifted from the floor then his head tilted down. There was a mighty blow to his back and causing Daniel to retch, thick blue liquid being forced from his abused lungs to make way for the oxygen they desperately needed. Daniel took a ragged breath and then coughed weakly, dislodging the last of the liquid to splash on the smooth floor below. He was lowered gently and then a piece of material was dragged across his eyes, nose and mouth, cleaning away the rest of the muck.

Daniel blinked myopically, the figure holding him finally coalescing into a recognisable shape. "DanielJackson, are you well?" The deep timbre was so comfortingly familiar that Daniel almost cried. Instead he lifted one arm, placing a hand against the face now bending over him, full of concern.

"Where have you been?" Daniel croaked.

"I have been, as O'Neill would state, biding my time." Teal'c continued cleaning off Daniel's face with the bottom of his shirt. Mindful to keep one arm along the younger man's back in case he wasn't done either collapsing or throwing up, he then carefully helped Daniel to sit up. Daniel leaned gratefully against the warmth. He rubbed knuckles into his eyes and looked at Teal'c again; almost scared the larger man would vanish.

"Are Jack and Sam-"

"Still encased. There was need to liberate your first." Teal'c explained, moving to the left slightly so that Daniel could see the tanks still holding his other teammates. Daniel then glanced at the one that he had been in. There was a large, jagged hole where the glass in the front had been and a large metal pipe on the floor before it. He patted Teal'c on the shoulder weakly. "Should I break the others out?" Teal'c asked, gesturing towards the pipe.

"I'm not entirely sure its safe, I was awake when you got me out. I'm assuming those tanks are some kind of..." Daniel twirled his hand in a lazy circle, obviously searching for the right term. "Virtual reality...tanks. I don't want to accidentally kill them."

"I would also prefer to avoid that." Teal'c said dryly.

"What else do you know about this place?"

"Not a lot. From what I have seen this is a large complex but there are not many guards. Most of the defenses seem to be automated." Teal'c explained.

"Guards?" Daniel prompted. Teal'c raised one eyebrow and flicked his head towards the side of the room. Daniel saw two prostrate figures and he nodded. "I do not know how many there are, but there are now two less."

"We've got to find a way to get the guys out without…killing them." Daniel made to stand but his legs weren't obliging. Teal'c hooked an arm around Daniel's waist without a word and lifted him upwards. "How long?" Daniel asked, worried about the numbness in his lower extremities.

"I would guess two weeks."

Daniel blinked. From his point of view, three years had passed. He remembered something similar with Shifu and when he had lost Sha're. Daniel mused that by the time he was forty he would have probably lived through another ten or fifteen years on top of that.

As if confirming Teal'c's assessment, pins and needles started to chase up and down Daniel's legs and lower back. Teal'c tightened his grip when Daniel gasped with cramp. "I'm fine." Daniel reassured when he could feel Teal'c's concern radiating through his touch. "Let's find a way to free the others."


	10. Chapter Ten

Daniel was wondering if he should have been left in the room with Jack and Sam as Teal'c had to put him down for the third time to deal with guards. His legs were still not strong enough to carry him very far and he was useless in a fight. Slowly he was getting more feeling and would actually be able to walk under his own power soon, but not soon enough it would seem.

He grimaced, as there was the wet crack of a guard's arm breaking.

"DanielJackson, are you ready to continue?" Teal'c asked, having rendered three guards unconscious with a series of stunning blows that had reminded Daniel why he had never taken up Teal'c's offer to spar.

Having been propped in the doorway of a large chamber similar to the one his, Jack and Sam's tanks had been situated, Daniel turned to try and stand on his own and was immediately absorbed by what he saw within.

"Hell." He breathed.

xxxxxx

"You'd think there would have been a reset or something by now." Jack sighed. There were shooting pains in his knees and arcing halfway up his thighs but he couldn't bring himself to leave his position by Daniel's form. Sam had finally sat down on the opposite side and she was studiously chewing on her thumbnail. Jack suspected she had run out of nail a while ago and was working on actual skin.

"This has to be a trick, a part of some sick game." She was repeating the same belief over and over again as if she could banish the very real presence of Daniel's body by denying its existence or place in reality. Jack was hoping she was right but the longer he sat by the body, the more he worried that Sam was wrong.

xxxxxx

"It is larger than the tank you were placed in." Teal'c observed.

"Just a little."

In the middle of the chamber they had just entered was a freestanding tank like the others in every way, but double the size. The occupant was also lacking the breathing apparatus and was floating free in the liquid. The figure inside looked like a girl of approximately twelve years old, but Daniel had learned long ago that appearances when offworld were deceptive and he wasn't about to assume that this was a mere child.

The girl's dark hair floated about her face like weeds. Daniel was contemplating whether she was actually alive when she opened her eyes.

"I was wondering where you were." Although not spoken aloud, the girl's voice appeared in Daniel's mind with a slightly lilting quality. Teal'c looked at Daniel with curiosity.

"Did you hear that?" Teal'c shook his head and raised an eyebrow when Daniel asked.

"He cannot hear me. I cannot communicate with his kind which is why it was necessary to keep him separate." The girl's eyes tracked Daniel as he moved, the pupils pure black.

"My name is-" Daniel attempted his traditional patter when meeting natives for the first time, trying to force normality into the situation.

"I know who you are, DanielJackson." The girl's lips curved and Daniel was unnerved. The expression on the girl's face looked like someone trying to smile that had only ever heard it described, not something that came naturally.

"Okay, who are you then, if you don't mind me asking?"

"We do not see the need to assign an individual name to be identified."

Daniel tried another tack. "Right. That's helpful. Okay, I'd like to free my friends and leave. Any objections?"

"Quite strong ones, yes."

"Of course. It would be too easy otherwise."

"DanielJackson?" Teal'c was looking perturbed as he could only hear Daniel's side of the conversation although he could sense the girl was communicating.

Daniel smiled tightly. "She said no." Teal'c raised an eyebrow in acknowledgement.

"Care to explain what you want with us then?"

The girl inclined her head slightly in a move so like Teal'c that Daniel jumped. He wondered if she had picked her mannerisms watching them, stealing ways to imitate and therefore ingratiate. The anthropologist within him was fascinated while the rest was just plain frightened.

"You are known as the Tau'ri, a race my people thought to be a myth up until you ventured through our Stargate." It was unusual for Daniel to hear the Stargate referred to as such, away from Earth. "We had heard of a warrior race, primitive in most ways, having decimated the Goa'uld population, destroying many powerful System Lords. In our little corner of the Universe we hoped that the stories were true, but did not truly believe."

"Your people?" Daniel prompted, hoping to garner information with innocuous sounding questions. The strange smile was back and Daniel suspected that he wouldn't be getting anything from this girl that she wasn't ready to volunteer.

"Roughly translated, we were known as The People of the Path. We fought the Goa'uld long ago and our civilization did not survive the encounter. There are a handful of us left in outposts such as this. We seek knowledge where we can find it and for you to have come through was a blessing we had not dared wish for."

"P8R-712" Daniel breathed, finally remembering, or he wondered, being allowed to remember. The mission had started like any other standard recon, the MALP indicating a power source five kilometers from the Stargate and no sign of apparent life. They had come through the 'gate and then…nothing.

"We have a field of Arcenas flowers planted around the Stargate which render most life forms insensible for a short time. Long-term exposure causes permanent neural damage. Goa'uld and Jaffa alike have come through and not returned to their own worlds."

"What could we possibly offer you? From what I've witnessed you're just a tad more… evolved than us." Daniel asked incredulously. Teal'c had moved to the doorway and was watching for any approaching guards. The warrior in him was unnerved that no more had made themselves apparent and he had the suspicion that they were being surrounded while Daniel spoke. He had the urge to grab Daniel and run before the snare could close, but he had seen Daniel talk their way out of dangerous situations more times than brute force had saved them.

Teal'c had never really understood the younger man's need to look for the peaceful solution first but he respected it, and longed to be that sort of man, or to live in a world where he could be.

"I learn from your failures." The girl said simply, moving a hand to her temple and brushing it briefly. "I catalogued your successes at first but it was the times you did not succeed that drove you further, made you daring. These were more interesting to me. I steered your memories in that direction." Daniel thought of the nightmares and the very realistic delusion that they were stranded offworld. "I had hoped to see what made you strong. I have learned from you concepts such as revenge and grief. These two things have the capacity to destroy you or make you more powerful."

"How do you intend to use that to fight the Goa'uld?"

"The concept of sacrifice was so alien to my people, that when the Goa'uld came we had no defence. We tried to save all of our people and in doing so we condemned them to die."

"We try to save everyone too." Daniel said defensively, hugging his arms to his chest. He wasn't sure he liked where this was going.

One of the girl's hands floated in front of her face and she held up one finger. "We can't save everyone Daniel, just a majority." Daniel blinked. The voice and words were Jack's. Teal'c had looked back at Daniel, ready to catch him as he had visibly paled but Daniel waved him off impatiently.

"Don't do that." Daniel snapped at the girl, mortified.

"What is most interesting to me…" The girl's voice was her own again. "Is that I have seen you surrender much to save a people that are intent on self-destructing."

"We're still very young." It was Daniel's turn to borrow the words of another race. The girl's lips curved up and Daniel thought that either she was getting the hang of the smiling thing, or he was getting used to her way of doing it.

"But you have great potential." She completed the sentiment. "I must admit, from the alliances you have made, there must be something about your race that is truly special. You seem to have the power to unify as well as destroy, and perhaps that is the path we should take." Daniel straightened. He had worried that he and the others weren't going to be released but he sensed the girl was offering him an out.

Teal'c also felt the change and turned to Daniel, his eyes alight with curiosity. Daniel held a hand up by his side and waggled the fingers almost imperceptibly. 'Almost there' they said. Teal'c took note and returned to his vigil by the door.

"Taking into account everything I have learned, an alliance would be beneficial. We have tried to stay hidden but it will only be a matter of time before the Goa'uld find that some of us still exist and will seek to wipe us out. We may have power, but we cannot defend ourselves against brute military force. I will release you and your team if you will return here to talk with those of us that are left."

"You know, you could have just asked us that in the first place." Daniel said.

"The risk was too great. Most of my people will extract what information they need and then discard the subjects. You proved…too interesting."

"That's good to know…I think." Daniel's brows furrowed. "Now, can we have my friends back?"

xxxxx

"Tam Sae said they should be coming around any moment."

"Who is TamSae?" Teal'c asked, looking sideways at Daniel.

"Floaty girl in the tank. She didn't have a name so I asked for the word in her language for… floaty girl." Daniel was treated to one of a Teal'c's rare smiles and he grinned back. Teal'c had the large piece of metal in hand again as he had rendered unconscious all of Tam's attendants that could have helped them to remove both Sam and Jack from the tanks any other way.

"Do you wish to place a wager on who will freak out?" Daniel blinked at Teal'c and snorted, not believing his ears.

"They'll both be fine." He said. He saw a spasm of movement from one of Jack's hands and recognized it from many nights on watch. It meant Jack was waking up.

It had always amazed Daniel how quickly Jack would move from completely asleep to fully awake and aware. Daniel had once seen a documentary where a vet had drugged a mountain lion to perform an operation. When the mountain lion had come around, the vet had run, knowing the large cat would shift from completely inert state to being capable of goring him in a matter of seconds. Daniel had thought fondly of Jack when watching it.

This time was no exception. One moment Jack was hanging limply in the tank, a tiny tremor in his hand the only indication that he was becoming aware, the next he was thrashing wildly, clawing at the mask on his face. Daniel pressed himself close to the glass, hoping Jack would stop panicking long enough to see him. Jack finally did notice him and slowed, his hands dropping away from the mask on his face.

There was still concern, but the panic had passed as soon as he had seen Daniel outside. Jack pressed a hand to the glass front and Daniel could read relief plain in his eyes. He brought a hand up, mimicking the gesture. "You have to move back." Daniel mouthed as clearly as he could and pointing behind Jack.

Jack flicked his head to the side, not understanding and noticed the other occupied tank. He turned back to Daniel who nodded. "Sam." He said and gave a thumbs up. "We're going to get you out now, but you have to move back." Daniel spoke slower this time and Jack nodded but then jerked a thumb in Sam's direction, his eyes on Daniel. The order was clear.

Her first.

Daniel nodded and moved to the front of Sam's tank. She had started coming around and when she opened her eyes the first thing she saw was Daniel. She automatically reached out toward him but her hands came up against the glass wall. Daniel repeated his order to Sam and she nodded, squashing herself against the back of the tank. "Be ready to catch,DanielJackson." Teal'c said grimly.

Teal'c swung the metal bar, quick and sharp. The glass at the front of Sam's tank starred and then fell away. Daniel shoved his arms out and caught Sam as she was forced forwards by the exiting liquid. She was still attached to the tank by her breathing apparatus so Daniel held her upright, balancing her weight on one of his legs, grateful that his long chat with Tam had afforded him the time needed to recover. She tried to help by clinging to him but wasn't ready for the weakness in her own arms as they circled his neck and then fell away. Teal'c moved forward and relieved Daniel of Sam so he could remove her mask.

"You need to take a few deep breaths." He instructed, knowing the removal of a throat tube was never a pleasant experience. Sam nodded grimly and he remembered that she had been through it too, a number of times. Sam dragged in two deep breaths as Daniel undid the straps from around her head and then placed two hands on either side of the mask. She looked into his eyes and nodded once.

xxxxxx

The Stargate spun to life but there was no one at the DHD. An event horizon sprung forth but there was no physical being to pass through.

Nevertheless, there was a ripple on the surface, a thought carried by an act of will. Traveling though time and space and emerging on the other side, the thought was caught like a moth in cupped hands.

"My Master, we have finally found the Tau'ri."

A sense of malice rippled through the air, carrying with it back through the wormhole a single order.

"Send the Destroyer."


	11. Chapter Eleven

Teal'c had one arm around Jack's waist and one around Sam. Daniel was constantly amazed at the strength of the Jaffa as he had easily born the weight of his two teammates. Jack was protesting weakly, trying to stand on his own, but Teal'c would not release him, knowing full well that Jack had not sufficiently recovered.

Sam was otherwise occupied, studying the small vial of the blue liquid she had been allowed to take with her. Jack had half-heartedly made a grab for it a couple of times. He may have been weakened, but not enough to stop torturing Sam.

Daniel was dialing Earth's address when he heard Jack call his name.

"What's up?" Daniel asked, his hand poised over the last symbol.

Jack was looking across at Sam, his brow furrowed. "Tell me again what exactly that stuff is?" A concern was tugging at Jack's conscious mind like a puppy tearing at his pants leg.

"Tam said it was like a conductor for their telepathic abilities. It allowed her to influence our thoughts and acted like a dampening field from outside distractions." Sam's eyes were full an eager light that betrayed her excitement to get the liquid back to her lab and start experimenting.

"Doctor Esche is at the Beta site, right?" Jack asked. Daniel was still paused by the DHD and the symbols winked out. He grunted and started dialing Earth again. "Daniel, wait a second!" Jack snapped, noticing what he was doing. Daniel had again dialed everything but the last symbol and turned to Jack with annoyance.

"For another two months. Why?" Sam asked, her confusion evident.

"She's our bio-weapons guru right? I think she should take a look at this before we bring it back home." Jack was starting to feel decidedly odd, being forced to talk to Sam across the barrel chest of Teal'c, while leaning drunkenly sideways. He wished fervently for the feeling to return to his lower extremities enough to stand on his own.

"Sir, I'd really like a crack at this." Sam had curled her fist around the vial and was hugging it to her chest protectively. Jack thought that she looked like someone was trying to take away a precious toy.

"We have no way of knowing if we've been released to be plague rats." Jack took an experimental step away from Teal'c, who released his grip but kept a wary arm out. "I don't want to find out the hard way that that stuff was not what it was purported to be."

"But-"

"Carter!" Jack snapped, not in the mood for an argument. "It goes to Beta first. That's an order. We'll drop it off there and then head back to Earth to report in." Sam looked like she wanted to protest further, but she was a good soldier and her arm was up, hand holding the vial out towards him before he'd even asked her. Jack took it and slotted it into his breast pocket. He flicked his gaze to Daniel. "Beta site." He instructed.

Daniel nodded once and started dialing.

xxxxx

Doctor Pandora Esche had been assigned to Beta site to test a new virus that SG-14 had brought back from PK3-234. It had turned out to be fairly harmless and she had been officially bored for about three weeks, so relished a chance to study the item brought by SG-1.

She'd placed the vial in a rack on her desk and was setting up her instruments when a head poked around the corner of her lab. "Coffee, Pandy?" Seargeant Anderson asked He'd been teasingly dubbed her personal bodyguard but Esche had had no particular objections to the handsome young soldier being her shadow.

"You read my mind." Pandy grinned. She slid off her stool, following Anderson out of the lab.

Unnoticed was the tiny crack in the bottom of the glass vial, or the liquid that began to seep out.

xxxxx

The humanoid form the creature had been using to imitate life now lay on the bottom of the tank, its usefulness spent. The creature had been fascinated by those it studied but also knew that the fabled Tau'ri were a greater threat to its existence than the Goa'uld had ever been. The Tau'ri were resourceful and resilient but were also willing to sacrifice.

The creature and its kind had been waiting too long for their chance to take the Universe for themselves to be stopped by such an ineffectual race. It was grateful that the Tau'ri had decimated the Goa'uld population so effectively, removing their last obstacle.

The creature stretched out, shattering the glass barrier it had been forced into and pooled across the floor. It allowed itself to fill the room, fanning outwards as its mass grew, devouring the air around it and replacing it with its own form. Soon, the world it now inhabited would be unrecognizable, completely submerged and encased within a living being.

Its growth rate was geometric as it devoured everything in its path, having been confined for too long. Spreading outwards at a faster rate, it removed its essence from the other creatures it had used, guards, the Tau'ri had called them. These forms also flopped lifelessly to the ground to be stripped and consumed along with everything else.

Somewhere out amongst the stars, the creature hoped that its brethren would be doing the same to the Tau'ri homeworld.

xxxxx

"She was most fascinated by the concept of sacrifice. I guess that's why she was sorting through our more traumatic memories." Daniel was explaining. The debriefing had been going for about two hours now, and they'd barely scratched the surface of what had happened to them. Most puzzling was the fact that to three quarters of SG-1, years had passed. All were having a hard time adjusting to the concept.

Especially Hammond.

He was about to ask another in a long line of questions he wasn't quite sure he wanted to know the answers to, when the klaxons began to sound. Instinctively, all in the room rose, making their way towards the Control room.

"What's going on?" Hammond barked, confusion on his features to see that the Stargate was sitting placidly. He'd been expecting unauthorized offworld activation and a spinning 'gate. Walter was bent over a monitor and when he moved aside, Hammond and the members of SG-1 could see a grainy shot of Doctor Esche. Jack moved forward and thumbed the switch on the radio. He looked back briefly to Walter and was concerned to see how pale the man looked.

"Doctor Esche, always a pleasure to see you, but I'm assuming something's wrong." Jack's tone was light but there was worry underneath, barely concealed. In an emergency, it was protocol for the highest-ranking member of the military to call in and for a civilian doctor to be using the emergency channel was unheard of except in the direst of circumstance.

Sam moved forward so Esche could see her in frame also. She'd been a friend of the doctor since she had started at the SGC and knew in an emergency it was important to see a face you trusted. There was no relief on Esche's features though as she looked from Jack to Sam and back again. She was hunched over the microphone at her end and her eyes were dark.

"We have a…foothold isn't exactly the right way of putting it, but we need you to lock the Beta site out of the dialing computer." Esche said, her voice trembling slightly. Jack blinked and looked sideways at Sam, whose face had drained of colour.

"Say again?" Jack requested. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked back to see Hammond. He moved aside, a small part of him grateful that Hammond was the man in charge.

"Doctor Esche, what's going on?" General Hammond demanded.

"The Beta site has become compromised. We've already sustained heavy losses and the Stargate is now unreachable. Those that dialed out to allow me to send this message are…" Esche closed her eyes for a second and Sam could see clearly even though the vision was blurry, that the younger woman was shaking. "I repeat, the Beta site is compromised. It has become a no-go zone."

"Doctor Esche, what is your situation? Are you currently under fire?"

"No Sir." Esche clarified. "It was…it was the substance SG-1 brought through. It's destroying everything, growing at an exponential rate. It kills everything it touches. At its current growth rate I can estimate that it will cover the entire surface of this planet in a matter of days."

Jack felt himself grow cold. The substance SG-1 brought through. The words echoed through his brain like a death knell.

"Sir, the Stargate will disengage in about thirty seconds. Please don't send anyone here by ship. You need to give the order. No-go zone." Esche repeated. Her trembling had ceased and her eyes were firm.

"That bad?" Sam breathed. Esche's eyes ticked to her and there was real fear present.

"Just think liquid replicators." Esche said, her voice hollow.

"I'll give the order." Hammond agreed gravely.

"Thank you Sir." Esche still looked frightened, but mollified. She looked behind herself and faintly they could hear glass breaking and a man screaming. Esche turned back to the monitor. "I just thank god that you didn't take this to Earth." She said and the connection between them died, leaving the four members of SG-1, Hammond and a handful of techs staring at a blank screen, horror and grief reflected on all faces present.

"Lock the Beta site out of the dialing computer." Hammond ordered, his face falling into careful neutrality. "I have a phone call to make."

xxxxxx

"I'm not going to tell you not to blame yourself." Sam turned at the sound of Jack's voice. She'd been sitting on the bench in front of her locker, staring into space. She'd had one boot on and was lacing it when she'd wound down like a clockwork doll, finding herself unable to complete such a mundane task as putting on her shoes when something so horrible had happened.

"What?" Sam blinked as Jack lowered himself on the bench beside her.

"We're all responsible for this. How many times were we going to bring alien crap through the Stargate that bit us in the ass before we wised up?" Jack's tone was bitter and he slammed a fist against his own locker, making Sam jump. "The difference is, this time we weren't lucky and there was no miraculous save."

"I wasn't blaming myself, and you shouldn't either." Sam admonished. She looked up and saw Daniel standing in the doorway, looking stricken. "Neither should you." She said, her voice stern. "We bring alien crap through because we need to. We opened Pandora's box seven years ago and there is no slamming the lid. The only thing that happens when you do that is you trap hope inside." Sam finished lacing her boot and pulled the other one on. "I want to live in a world where hope is out here, with us."

"But-"

"But nothing Daniel! You, Jack and Teal'c are all carrying around enough guilt for things that aren't your fault as it is. We took a risk and it turned out badly, horribly in fact. I will grieve, of course I will, but I'll be damned if I'm going to add this to our list of sins."

"Sam-"

"I'll see you in two days Sir. We'll go on our mission and we'll find some weird alien artifact that will possibly be beneficial in our fight against the Goa'uld and we will take a risk. We might end up with you pinned to a wall or Daniel in a loony bin or me in a computer, but we also might end up with the way to win. If we don't, we're disrespecting the people who died on Beta."

Sam left the locker room, brushing passed Daniel. She waited till she was down the corridor and around the corner before she let the tears start.

Back in the locker room, Jack and Daniel looked at each other. There would be guilt for all of them, but a part of them also wanted Sam to be right.

Jack opened his locker. He'd lost a son, a lot of friends and three years now.

He decided he could hold onto hope for a little while longer.

xxxxxx

"Sir?" Daniel stood in the doorway of General Hammond's office hesitantly. Hammond's hand was on the handset of the red phone and Daniel wasn't sure if he'd just hung up, or was about to use it. Hammond's hand dropped away and he looked up.

"You should go home, son. You look like hell."

Daniel chuckled briefly. "Thank you sir. I was on my way. I just wanted to say that I was sorry."

"Doctor Jackson, you have nothing to apologise for. You thought you'd found an ally."

"I should have sensed…something." Daniel admonished.

"Son, I would expect you to if you were dealing with humans. I don't expect you to be able to tell when an alien race you have never encountered before is yanking your chain." Hammond said gently. His hand drifted over to the normal phone and he pulled a list of names towards him with his other hand.

"Sir?" Daniel asked as Jack appeared at his elbow, clothed in his dress blues. "We'd like to tell Doctor Esche's family. She had a sister who lives only half an hour from here."

"Of course." Hammond nodded.

Jack put a hand up on Daniel's shoulder. "Let's go then." He said.

Hammond, alone in his office, lifted the handset of his phone.

The concept of sacrifice was something he was acutely aware of. Preparing to call the families of those that had died on Beta, Hammond knew he was also its harbinger.

He dialed the phone and a gentle woman's voice answered.

"Mrs Anderson? This is General Hammond. I'm afraid I have some bad news."

Sacrifice.

Hammond lived with it everyday, but to him it was called MIA.


End file.
